Obama on campaign trail, says ready to pass baton to Hillary

WASHINGTON: Their joint appearance was to be the event of the 2016 White House race, so far. And it was, except President Barack Obama, the campaigner-in-chief, stole the show.

As the presumptive Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, spoke, Obama, perched on a backless stool behind her, acted out some parts of her speech, specially those about him.

He eagerly joined her supporters in chanting “Hillary, Hillary”, and even led them a few times. And when it was his turn at the microphone, the president was a quintessential surrogate.

“I’m ready to pass the baton,” Obama, who had his sleeves rolled up, said to applause. “And I know that Hillary Clinton is going to take it. And I know she can run that race.”

The president and his onetime secretary of state appeared jointly for the first time this election season, just hours after Clin- ton received a mixed reprieve on her private email use.

The FBI said earlier on Tuesday that though Clinton, as secretary of state, and her aides had been “extremely careless” using a private server, it was not recommending charges against her.

Neither Obama nor Clinton referred to the FBI announcement — and it was noted — and plunged headlong into the race, in which they both have as much at stake as the other.

Clinton needs Obama’s testimony as a “character witness” to change a continuing perception of her as dishonest and untrustworthy and her high un-favorability ratings.

Obama was right on cue at the joint appearance, in North Carolina, blaming it on politics. He started by recalling how popular she was when she had just left office. “She was a great secretary of state,” he said. “Before the whole political machinery got moving. You remember that? It wasn’t that long ago. It's funny how that happens.”

And he tore into presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, who he constantly referred to as the “other guy” or just the “guy”, saying tweeting is easy, but sitting behind the Oval Office desk isn’t.